Antonelli, tears of joy
The fast is broken: an Italian driver returns to win an F1 GP after 20 years. Credit to Kimi Antonellia champion who triumphs as a champion today in Shanghai. A dominated race, put down by yesterday’s pole position and also favored by those Ferraris that stand between him and George Russell. Antonelli, however, sets a top-level pace and, after overtaking Lewis Hamilton (who once again started off like a slingshot), he does not falter even with the Safety Car on lap 10 and a difficult heating of hard rubber restarting.
Antonelli’s words
With the hard tyres, Kimi is almost perfect and watches the battle between Hamilton, Leclerc and Russell from the mirrors, which naturally works to his advantage and allows him to create a very useful buffer. That gap is worth its weight in gold and he will understand it with the mistake at the hairpin on the third to last lap: “I shit myself“, he will admit in front of Stefano Domenicali.
More coldly, after having let off steam even with very right tears, Antonelli analyzes his first victory in F1 as follows: “I dreamed just that, that there would be an opportunity. I’m over the moonI’m too happy, and this victory gives pleasure. I certainly liked the start, because all the previous ones had been terrible: it’s true that I lost the position to Lewis, but the gap wasn’t bad and the pace was good“, this is his comment to Sky Sports F1. “On the medium tyres I managed a lot, George had a slightly faster pace, but on the hard tyres I went fast. In the end, though, I relaxed too much and I made a mistake, I won’t have to do that again“.
“With the hard tires, apart from the first few laps, I felt good. We made a tremendous effort to warm up the tires compared to the Ferrari, but I felt I had the situation under control and I always remained calm“he added.”It was really nice, dI wanted to dedicate it to my family, my team and all those who follow me from home. I definitely managed to achieve one of my main goals. This gives me more confidence. I will have a slightly different approach, I will be a little more relaxed, more aware of my potential, but beating George and the others will not be easy. I’ll have to keep ‘hammering’, today went well but we’re only at the beginning“.
